There may be some issues regarding the new iPad’s temperature during heavy use, but that news isn't stopping sales of the device. Just like all Apple products, consumers turned out in droves last Friday, March 16th to get their hands on the latest iOS tablet, and the actual sales numbers are staggering.

According to a press release by Apple, the new iPad managed to sell 3 million units worldwide since its launch. The numbers are the highest for any iPad release, and reflect sales in 10 countries including the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany and Japan.

While we doubt Apple has had time to conduct customer satisfaction surveys, senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, Philip Schiller, seems assured of user happiness and is confident in saying:

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet…Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display”

While the numbers are definitely overwhelming, they are even more impressive when you take into consideration the fact that the Kindle Fire has "only" sold 4.7 million units in the 5 months since its launch. Furthermore, the numbers should only increase as the new iPad is set to make its way to even more countries worldwide this Friday; including Austria, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Mexico and Spain.

CUPERTINO, California―March 19, 2012―Apple® today announced it has sold three million of its incredible new iPad®, since its launch on Friday, March 16. The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple's new A5X chip with quad-core graphics, a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video, and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.**

"The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday."

The new iPad is already available in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, UK and the US Virgin Islands and will be available in 24 more countries starting at 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, March 23 through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The new iPad Wi-Fi models are available in black or white for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G for either AT&T or Verizon is available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. Additionally, the incredible iPad 2 is now offered at a more affordable price of $399 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi model and just $529 (US) for the 16GB Wi-Fi + 3G model.